Brilliant Stories for Assemblies by Paul Urry

Author:Paul Urry
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: primary, school, teach, teachers, students, pupils, children, cultural, relious, religion, bullying, birth, racism, disability, disabled, discrimination, historical, history, skills, develop, world, issues, problems
ISBN: 9780857475466
Publisher: Andrews UK Limited 2012
Published: 2012-05-03T00:00:00+00:00

Disability (Hearing)

‘Gary! Will you stop daydreaming and listen?’ shouted his teacher.

Gary just stared back. He was a popular person in class, great at football and funny, but he kept getting into trouble. His friends tried to help him but he would not listen.

Gary started his work. He carefully wrote the date and then stopped.

‘What’s wrong?’ Liam asked but Gary did not answer. Liam nudged him.

‘What’s wrong?’ he asked again.

Gary looked straight at Liam. ‘I don’t know what to do.’

‘Why? Miss has explained what to do.’

‘I don’t know.’

Gary kept quiet as usual and managed to copy some of Liam’s work. That usually stopped him getting into more trouble.

That afternoon on the way home from school something terrible happened. An unhappy Gary was walking ahead of Liam. He stepped up to the road and started to walk across.

‘GARY!!!!’ Liam screamed, ‘LOOK OUT!!!’ Gary did nothing. At the last minute he turned and saw a car coming towards him. He tried to move out of the way. The driver managed to swerve but still hit Gary’s leg. He spun around and fell heavily to the ground.

Liam and some other friends ran up. Gary was lying on the ground. The driver jumped out of his car and ran up too, saying, ‘I didn’t see him.’ He started to shake but called an ambulance on his phone. Liam ran to Gary’s house to tell his parents.

When Gary woke up in hospital he saw his leg in plaster. He wondered how he had got there. His mum was crying and his dad was holding her. He tried to smile, but it hurt him. They held his hand. His mum carried on crying.

After several days he was allowed out of hospital and Liam called round to see him.

‘Can I see Gary, please?’ he asked.

‘Of course. Come in, Liam.’

Liam looked at Gary’s crutches and broken leg. ‘Why didn’t you move when I called?’ he asked.

‘Did you call?’

‘Are you kidding? I shouted!’

‘I didn’t hear you,’ he said, looking straight at Liam.

‘You must have done. Everyone else looked round.’

The friends looked at each other. After a while Gary carried on. ‘I’ve been thinking. I didn’t hear the car either.’

‘Have you told your parents?’ asked Liam.

‘Not yet. I can’t hear you all the time. I’ve known for a long time in school that I couldn’t hear the teacher. That’s why I don’t always know what to do. I’m not stupid, you know!’

‘I know that,’ Liam said reassuringly.

Gary did tell his parents and they took him to the doctor’s. After a few weeks he had a hearing aid and noticed things he had never known about before - the birds singing in the trees, the laughter in the playground and the sound of the traffic on the roads. He was also much happier in school.

‘Gary! Will you stop daydreaming and listen?’ shouted his teacher. Gary smiled. He had been daydreaming this time.

‘No need to shout, Miss,’ he said, and everyone laughed.

Follow-up question

Why was Liam such a good friend?

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